he three-word message, launched minutes after the verdict came in, was succinct in its solidarity. “Je suis Marine!” Hungary’s Viktor Orbán posted on social media after France’s far-right leader, Marine Le Pen, was found guilty of embezzling European parliament funds and barred immediately from running for public office.
Messages soon came tumbling in from Brazil to Belgium, hinting at how rightwing nationalist and populist leaders had seized on the ruling to push their own narrative.
Most of them paid little heed to the judges’ finding of the key role Le Pen and more than two dozen others had played in a scam that prosecutors alleged had diverted more than €4m (£3.4m) of European parliament funds to benefit the party.
On Thursday, Donald Trump became the latest to weigh in, railing against the court’s sentencing of Le Pen to four years in prison, of which two years were suspended and the other two set to be served outside jail with an electronic bracelet. “The Witch Hunt against Marine Le Pen is another example of European Leftists using Lawfare to silence Free Speech, and censor their Political Opponent, this time going so far as to put that Opponent in prison,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, describing the charge as “minor”. He added: “FREE MARINE LE PEN.”
As France reeled from the political upheaval, opponents of liberal democracy jumped at the chance to peddle their claims that some justice systems are being used as a blunt tool to silence the will of the people. “When the radical left can’t win via democratic vote, they abuse the legal system to jail their opponents,” wrote Elon Musk. “This is their standard playbook throughout the world.”
